From 35 Million to Food Stamps... What a family gains when losing the American Dream.

In her 30s, Judy Cochrane had by most standards realized the American Dream. In 2000, her husband Bill’s start-up company sold for 90 million. Their college romance and tireless work ethic built a bright future for their family, as well as a portfolio of 35 million. But just as the stars aligned for the 90 million sale of their company, they also fell apart; from living in a gated home perched on a mountaintop in Tucson, Arizona to life in a beat-up rental, without job security and on food stamps.

With pressure at every turn: 3 young kids, a failing economy, health concerns, a troubled marriage, and the loss of everything the family had built, time alone and getting grounded seemed impossible. With what little faith she could muster, she sought for a miracle. It came in the form of an 11-day housesitting opportunity in Santa Barbara, California. During Cochrane’s quest, her spiritual guides and new friends included: a surfer-musician; a dying writing professor; an Episcopal minister; a gifted intuitive healer; a pair of tattoo artists; a septuagenarian yoga practitioner; a homeless preacher; a foul-mouthed auto mechanic; two dogs and a cat; and the Pacific Ocean.

Raw. Honest. Truly captivating. Seemingly ordinary people, share an extraordinary journey in Cochrane’s seek and rescue mission where she finds a clearer understanding of self, others and circumstance. She shares this story with transparency while wrapped in humor and insightful intensity with her honest discoveries of who she is, and in some ways who we all are. — Karen Callan, author of Just in Time

Judy Cochrane was born March 13th, 1965 outside Chicago, Illinois. She grew up in the suburbs of Buffalo Grove until the age of 15, when she attended high school in Glenview, Illinois. She graduated from Eastern Illinois University where she studied Consumer Affairs and Marketing.

Over the last 25 years, trying to unveil grace where there was grit, she sought help and now holds numerous certifications in various alternative health modalities: hypnotherapist, Neuro Linguistic practitioner (NLP), yoga teacher, reiki master, meditation facilitator and others…that have to do with art, music & believing there is good in the world.

She received C’s in English in high school and college, and never aspired to be a writer. After her 11-day house-sitting experience and with encouragement by a university writing professor to write the story just as she would tell it, she did just that. It took a decade to start the project and only a few months to complete a first draft. In order to get a better understanding of the fluctuating publishing industry, she opted to start her own publishing company and to self-publish under herself.

Judy Cochrane lives in Tucson and Dallas with her husband, Bill, and, off and on, with their three college-aged children in both her Tucson, Arizona home and her Dallas, Texas home. She often drops everything to get to the California beaches.